Obama missteps boost Republicans’ midterm chances

President Barack Obama speaks at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Oct. 17.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — With midterm elections closing in, how President Barack Obama’s missteps are boosting Republicans’ midterm chances, as White House-Senate Democrat relations hit a new low. Also, companies are trying ways to avoid Obamacare penalties and just who is arguing the U.S. needs more billionaires.

Pre-midterm missteps: When President Barack Obama said Monday that voters should support red-state Democrats who “vote with me” and “have supported my agenda in Congress,” Republicans could hardly contain their glee. The Hill writes that political missteps like these by Obama are unnerving Democrats with less than two weeks remaining before the midterm elections. Obama has twice this month tied red-state Democrats to his policies, and he has stumbled with other comments that distracted from the party’s midterm messaging, the Hill writes. Case in point: His saying the White House didn’t have a strategy yet for targeting the militant group ISIS.

New low: Wait, who is Bruce Braley? National Journal reports the relationship between the White House and Senate Democrats hit a new low Tuesday night when Obama’s press office released a transcript of Michelle Obama’s appearance in Iowa on behalf of Braley, the Democrat who’s running for Senate in that state. The subject line of the press office’s email, however, referred to him as the “Democratic candidate for governor.” Plus, Mrs. Obama in a campaign appearance earlier this month referred to Braley as “Bruce Bailey.” A senior Senate Democratic aide told National Journal: “The ineptitude of the White House political operation has sunk from annoying to embarrassing.”

Independents’ day: Politico has a good look at how three or even four independents could be a force in the Senate after the midterm elections. If either Greg Orman in Kansas or Larry Pressler in South Dakota wins, it would add a Great Plains flavor to the small Northeast bloc of independents today: Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine. Maybe there will be just enough independents to host their own “party” lunch on Tuesday, Politico speculates. “We have a moment,” King told Politico, laughing.

Penalty play: Companies are set to face fines next year if they don’t comply with Obamacare’s mandate to offer health insurance to their employees. Now, The Wall Street Journal reports some are pursuing strategies like enrolling employees in Medicaid to avoid penalties and hold down costs. Insurance brokers and benefits administrators are pitching a variety of options, sometimes exploiting wrinkles in the law, the Journal says. The Medicaid option is drawing particular interest from companies with low-wage workers.

More billionaires, please: Democrats cite inequality as a big problem. But in a piece for the Week, James Pethokoukis says the U.S. needs more ultra-wealthy people. “The rich getting richer isn’t what keeps people from climbing the success ladder,” he writes. “In fact, having lots of super-rich people can create more opportunity for everybody.” He continues: “We want risk-takers creating new businesses that offer innovative and amazing new goods and services.”

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